Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce • Hacker News Board

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#21

Post by slg » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:08 PM UTC

HideousKojima wrote: post #14

soperj wrote: post #11

I'm betting some people wish they had a union now.

Unions don't prevent layoffs though

It really depends on the specific union and what they push for in negotiations. Some unions will prioritize layoff preventing policies that make layoffs a less desirable option for a business. At the very least, a union will probably get you a better severance package than you would get out of a company with no union. And if severance is more expensive, it shifts the economic incentives and might make a company more hesitant to lay people off.

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#22

Post by giobox » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:10 PM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #12

moosedev wrote: post #8

The second half of the news, not mentioned in TFA, is that they are going to close around half of their offices worldwide "in the coming years": https://www.gamesindustry.biz/unity-lays-off-hundreds-more-c... No info on which offices might be at risk.

Probably not the main Copenhagen office as I expect Danish employee protection rights to be off the chart.

A pattern I've observed at international companies who have done multiple layoffs in the past 12 months is that the European offices are rarely hit hard in wave 1 due to the additional statutory protections in many European countries.

However, that seems to fire the starting gun on the preparations needed to then carry out layoffs that require longer statutory processes in Europe, which then get included in the second or future wave of layoffs. Meta for example appeared to follow this pattern, and I've heard as much from people with direct knowledge of events.

This is Unity's third round of layoffs this year.

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#23

Post by MuffinFlavored » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:14 PM UTC

https://www.google.com/search?q=unity+vs+unreal+engine

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+video+games+use+unity+e...

How much does/did Unity charge for the top games that use their engine? How else do they generate revenue (and profit)? How do they compete with Unreal? Is Unreal more successful of the two?

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#24

Post by raincole » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:15 PM UTC

It makes me sad that Unity (almost) became an industry standard for indie and mobile games. It's almost as sad as Adobe and Autodesk's relevance.

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#25

Post by kypro » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:15 PM UTC

Just 8%? The company is valued at $9.5b and is burning almost $1b a year... For every $1 they do in revenue they're currently losing about $0.66.

I've been expecting this for sometime and I'm guessing they'll be forced to cut more.

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#26

Post by kriro » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:16 PM UTC

My guess is they are cutting glut, realizing that the free money times are over and not that there's fundamental issues (apart from relying on free money too much of course). I'm a bit nervous about them turning profitable eventually but there's enough technical merit and niche that they should. I remember they grew headcount by a lot but maybe I'm misremembering. Maybe this sounds a bit cynical but 8% actually feels low.

I only have so much time and it's all hobby projects but my heuristic is "multiplatform, 2d focus -> Unity; 3d -> Unreal". The two "big ones" seem to have interesting enough niches carved out (Unreal is also big in the simulation area and in movies). Sadly I haven't had the chance to try Godot or any other engine really.

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#27

Post by GartzenDeHaes » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:19 PM UTC

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #23

https://www.google.com/search?q=unity+vs+unreal+engine https://www.google.com/search?q=what+video+games+use+unity+e... How much does/did Unity charge for the top games that use their engine? How else do they generate revenue (and profit)? How do they compete with Unreal? Is Unreal more successful of the two?

If I remember right, Unity's largest revenue source is their asset store, followed by mobile in-game ads.

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#28

Post by smbullet » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:19 PM UTC

kypro wrote: post #25

Just 8%? The company is valued at $9.5b and is burning almost $1b a year... For every $1 they do in revenue they're currently losing about $0.66. I've been expecting this for sometime and I'm guessing they'll be forced to cut more.

That sounds a lot like profit, no?

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#29

Post by lockhouse » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:19 PM UTC

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #23

https://www.google.com/search?q=unity+vs+unreal+engine https://www.google.com/search?q=what+video+games+use+unity+e... How much does/did Unity charge for the top games that use their engine? How else do they generate revenue (and profit)? How do they compete with Unreal? Is Unreal more successful of the two?

The thing with Unreal is that it doesn’t really even have to be very profitable. Epic would need a game engine of their own anyway. As long as their own games that use it make money, everything else is just extra gravy.

Unity’s only revenue streams are their game engine and their advertising platform.

Edit: I forgot they also have an asset store.

Re: Unity to lay off 8% of its workforce

#30

Post by mtzet » Wed, May 03, 2023, 4:19 PM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #12

moosedev wrote: post #8

The second half of the news, not mentioned in TFA, is that they are going to close around half of their offices worldwide "in the coming years": https://www.gamesindustry.biz/unity-lays-off-hundreds-more-c... No info on which offices might be at risk.

Probably not the main Copenhagen office as I expect Danish employee protection rights to be off the chart.

Off the charts? Compared to completely at will maybe. You generally have to pay 3 months severance + 1 month per 3 years of employment for a maximum of 6 months severance after 9 years of employment. That's it.